Facebook dethrones Amazon as the stock most popular with hedge funds, according to Goldman data

• Facebook has overtaken Amazon as the stock most commonly owned as a top-10 holding by hedge funds, according to new Goldman Sachs data.
• Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Alibaba comprised the top five, with the group unchanged from Goldman's last hedge fund VIP list.
• Goldman analysts said hedge funds sharply rotated from growth to value in the previous quarter.

Facebook has overtaken Amazon as the stock most held as a top-10 position by hedge funds, according to new data from Goldman Sachs.

The same companies as last quarter comprised the top five in the bank's hedge fund VIP list of the most popular long positions, just in a new order: Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Alibaba.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs led by Ben Snider analyzed the holdings of 807 hedge funds with $2.7 trillion of gross equity positions at the start of the second quarter of 2021.

Among the hedge funds assessed, 27% own Facebook shares, and 57% of those own it as a top-10 holding. Meanwhile, Amazon saw the largest slip in hedge fund ownership during the quarter.

Several high-multiple growth stocks and two special purpose acquisition companies saw a decrease as well.

"During the last three months, our VIP basket of the most popular hedge fund long positions has lagged the S&P 500 by 11 percentage points (-6% versus +5%), nearly matching the worst stretch in its 20-year history," the analysts said.

The analysts also found that many of the 15 new VIPs are cyclical stocks pegged to the economy, including Citigroup, General Motors, and mining company Freeport-McMoRan.

However, the analysts found that some growth stocks saw among the largest jumps in ownership compared to the previous quarter. This includes Snowflake, Twitter, and biotechnology firm Illumina.

The analysts also said hedge funds rotated from growth to value sharply in the previous quarter.

"Hedge funds reduced their factor tilt to Growth to below the 20-year average, matching the third quarter of 2018 as the lowest in five years," they said in the note. "Funds also rotated among sectors, reducing positions in Growth sectors like Tech while adding to Value in Energy and Financials, among others."